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3232Wardynski Doubles Legal Fees in Five Monthshttp://www.geekpalaver.com/2011/12/20/wardynski-doubles-legal-fees-in-five-months/
http://www.geekpalaver.com/2011/12/20/wardynski-doubles-legal-fees-in-five-months/#commentsWed, 21 Dec 2011 03:25:18 +0000http://www.geekpalaver.com/?p=2041Dr. Wardynski has more than doubled the fees paid to lawyers by Huntsville City Schools since he's been here.

Thanks to a regular reader (and proofreader as well), I thought it would be interesting to see just exactly how much Dr. Casey “Then su . . . then you have recourse” Wardynski had spent on legal fees in the five months he’s been here and how that number compared to the previous nine months before he arrived. (I went back 14 months because that’s all that is currently available on the HCS website. If anyone has a copy of the September 2010 check register, it would be interesting to know those numbers as well.)

As always with our system, the actual numbers are much worse than I had assumed.

In five months, Dr. Wardynski has spent $351,488.92 on “Legal Fees.” In the nine months preceding his tenure, the system had spent $338,096.57. In fourteen months, Huntsville City Schools has paid $689,585.49 in legal fees.

In other words, Dr. Wardynski has more than doubled the fees paid to lawyers since he’s been here.

In the previous nine months, the system’s monthly average for legal fees was $37,566.29. Since Wardynski has arrived that monthly average has jumped to $70,297.78.

If he keeps up that average for the next seven months, Dr. Wardynski will spend $843,573.41 not on teachers, aides, therapists, supplies or even facilities. He will have spent $843,573.41 on lawyers.

What could we buy with that funding if Wardynski weren’t so quick to suggest legal action to parents who ask questions? Here are a few ideas:

23 First Year Teachers at $36,000 per year.

93 Instructional Assistants at $9,000 per year.

23 Therapists at $36,000 per year.

In short, for the amount of funding that our superintendent pays to lawyers, we could nearly double the number of instructional assistants or therapists working with our students. We could increase the number of classrooms by 14%.

Many readers have long since suggested to me that I should pursue legal action against the system. As I am loath to be the cause of our local educational funding going to something other than our students, I have done every thing possible to avoid legal action. Dr. Wardynski, because he refuses to discuss his reasons for cutting special education funding more than any other area, has made this impossible.

I have therefore filed a grievance with the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Education as a start. Perhaps he will be willing to answer their questions.